A psychometric examination of the multidimensional perfectionism scale

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), developed by Frost, Marten, Lahart, and Rosenblate (1990), was constructed using an all female sample at an elite university. This study examined the psychometric properties of the instrument using a more typical sample (n=278) of college students from a large state university and a small liberal arts college, both located in the South. Significant differences were found on the overall MPS score as well as six of the seven subscales between this sample and that of Frostet al. No gender differences were found for any of the MPS scores. Internal reliability was found to be .88 for the total score, with subtests ranging from .57 to .95. Interscore correlations were relatively consistent with the Frostet al. sample except for a negative correlation between the PS subscale and the total score. There was a strong confirmation of the underlying factor structure reported by Frostet al. The overall impression was that the MPS is a psychometrically sound instrument of potential value in studying the construct of perfectionism.     

The self and recollective experience

Three experiments investigated the hypothesis that self-reference at encoding increases the probability of recollective experience in recognition memory. In all three experiments separate groups of subjects studied words naming personality traits. One group judged the self-relevance of the traits, the other groups performed orientating tasks low in self-reference. In a recognition test subjects first identified old items and then indicated which of these were accompanied by recollective experience ('remember' responses) and which were recognized on some other basis ('know' responses). No reliable differences in overall recognition performance between self-referent and semantic encoding tasks were observed. However, subjects who encoded trait adjectives with reference to the self produced reliably more remember responses and few know responses than subjects who had encoded the items in the low self-referent tasks. Experiment 1 demonstrated a self-reference effect in recognition accompanied by recollective experience after 1-hour retention interval, while Experiment 2 found this effect to persist over a 24-hour retention interval. Experiment 3 demonstrated that this self-reference effect is obtained under incidental as well as under intentional learning conditions. Taken together these findings demonstrate the importance of self-reference as a factor in determining the likelihood that recognition judgements will be accompanied by recollective experience.     

Perceived intimacy of expressed emotion

Research on norms for emotional expression and self-disclosure provided the basis for two hypotheses concerning the perceived intimacy of emotional self-disclosure. The first hypothesis was that the perceived intimacy of negative emotional disclosure would be greater than that of positive emotional disclosure; the second was that disclosures of more intense emotional states would be perceived as more intimate than disclosures of less intense emotional states for both negative and positive disclosures. Both hypotheses received support when male students in Canada rated the perceived intimacy of self-disclosures that were equated for topic and that covered a comprehensive sample of emotions and a range of emotional intensities. The effects were observed across all the topics of disclosure examined.     

Reaction time measures of feature saliency in schematic faces

Two separate paradigms utilizing measurements of reaction time were employed to study facial feature saliency in schematic line drawn faces. In the first paradigm the speed of response to the omission of different facial components was measured, and in the second, the speed of response to feature substitution was measured. In both paradigms the facial features were presented in a random temporal sequence in order to minimise preferential scanning strategies. The two separate paradigms reflected the feature hierarchy most commonly found in the literature, ie the outline and eyes are more salient than the nose and mouth in terms of both speed of processing and error rate. In a third study the feature substitution paradigm was used to investigate the effects of feature saliency on the perception of emotional faces. The results suggest a change in the eyes/mouth hierarchy so that the mouth becomes the most salient feature in the surprised, happy, and sad target faces. This reverse in hierarchy, however, was not evident with the angry target face. These results are discussed in terms of changes in the focus of 'attention' and/or changes in 'processing efficiency'.     

OPERANT TREATMENT OF OROFACIAL DYSFUNCTION IN NEUROMUSCULAR DISORDERS

The popularity and reported success of biofeedback treatment for neuromuscular disorders has occurred despite a lack of research identifying the critical variables responsible for therapeutic gain. In this study, we assessed the degree to which severe neurological dysfunction could be improved by using one of the components present in all biofeedback treatment, contingency management. Three cases of orofacial dysfunction were treated by reinforcing specific improvements reliably detectable without the use of biofeedback equipment. The results showed that contingency management procedures alone were sufficient to improve overt motor responses but, unlike biofeedback treatment, did not produce decreases in the hypertonic muscle groups associated with the trained motor behavior. The findings suggest that sophisticated, expensive biofeedback equipment may not be necessary in treating some neuromuscular disorders and that important clinical gains may be achieved by redesigning the patient's daily environment to be contingently therapeutic, rather than only accommodating the disabilities of the physically handicapped.     

External threat and the definition of deviance

Research ( Lauderdale , 1976; Schachter , 1951) suggests that an external threat to a group can lead to the rejection of deviant members of the group and alteration of group communication patterns and solidarity. This study sought to extend those findings, integrate them with concepts from Simmel 's (1917/1955) work on group conflict, and link them to key issues in the societal reaction approach to deviant behavior. We examined the effect of variation in level of threat, the relationship between deviant status and nonconformity to the central task norm, the role of high-status actors in deviance designation, the relationship between rejection and negative definition of the deviant, and the effects of rejection and negative definition on group solidarity. Hypotheses were tested in an experimental design involving three conditions (strong threat, weak threat, and no threat). The results suggest that (a) the level of threat is directly related to the extent of rejection and negative definition, (b) nonconformity to the central task norm is not systematically related to deviant status, (c) high-status actors are more involved in the rejection of the deviant, (d) sociometric rejection of the deviant is accompanied by negative definition in the strong-threat condition, and (e) the level of group solidarity is related to the extent of rejection and negative definition. Implications of these findings are discussed relative to the societal reaction approach to deviant behavior and analogous processes in other social groups.     

Tilt from ahead-inverted position produces displacement of visual subjective vertical in the opposite direction

Observers who lie supine with their heads inverted report large (up to 60°) tilt of a light line in an otherwise dark room when their heads and/or bodies are tilted. Most observers report that visual subjective vertical is tilted in the direction opposite to the head/body tilt. The results can be interpreted by employing a model developed by Mittelstaedt (1983), which suggests that visual subjective vertical is derived from a gravity vector transduced by vestibular and somesthetic receptors combined with “idiotropic vectors” that represent the orientation of the observer’s own head and body axes.     

Book Reviews

The Psychological Record -     

Ego-involvement leads to positive self-schema activation and to a positivity bias in information processing

Study 1 examined the hypothesis that ego-involvement leads to positive self-schema activation. Ego-involvement was induced by having experimental subjects anticipate a difficult test of intelligence. Noninvolved control subjects did not anticipate the test. All subjects completed a depth-of-processing task, following which incidental recall was assessed. Ego-involved relative to noninvolved subjects tended to recall a greater number of positive and fewer negative words at both the self-referent and semantic processing levels. Study 2 was conducted to address further the self-schema hypothesis and to address the hypothesis suggested by the results of Study 1 that ego-involvement leads to a positivity bias in information processing. The design of Study 2 was similar to that of Study 1. Results revealed that the self-favorability of negative words recalled at the self-referent level was greater for ego-involved than for noninvolved subjects, suggesting positive self-schema activation. In addition, ego-involved subjects recalled a greater number of positive words at the semantic level, suggesting a positivity bias in information processing.Study 2 was conducted by Andrew Howell in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a Master of Arts degree at Concordia University, under the supervision of Michael Conway. The authors thank Karin Stiefenhofer for her work on the project. The research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide à la Recherche du Québec grants to Michael Conway.